Moonstruck by Lauren Dane (Diablo Lake #1)
Paranormal Romance
June 20, 2016
Carina Press

Reviewed by Helyce

I love Lauren Dane’s contemporary romances, but I’ve always struggled with her paranormal stories.  That said, I was attracted to the premise of Moonstruck, first book in a new series entitled, Diablo Lake.  This story sets the scene of a lakeside town that is inhabited by shifters and witches.  It focuses on the power struggle between two wolf families, the wealthy Pembry’s and the working class Dooley’s. But the difference in class have little to do with the major conflict between these two families.  

Throughout the story, there are hints at something that happened in the past involving a female Pembry wolf and a male Dooley wolf. Whatever happened is so horrible, the male Dooley wolf was executed according to pack law; the incident and his name struck from the records, never to be spoken.

Jace Dooley is the eldest grandson of the Dooley Prime and is set to take over as Prime when his grandfather steps down. He and his brothers were raised by their grandparents after their father, the shunned wolf, was executed.  Neither Jace, nor his brothers, know the full story of what happened with their father because it’s forbidden to speak of it, but it touches them like an ugly stain, even though they were so young when it all happened.

Katie Faith Grady is a witch in the town. At one time she’d been engaged to Darrell Pembry, but he left her, at the altar, and ran off with another woman.  Hurt and humiliated, she leaves Diablo Lake for a time to get away from all the rumor and speculation.  But when her father becomes ill, she moves home to help run their family business, a restaurant called The Counter.

Katie Faith comes from a line a strong witches and it’s clear that her coming home is meaningful.  The magic in the town, which is tied to the earth, starts to come to her and it becomes evident just how strong she is when her ex, Darrell, confronts her one day and she is able to throw him back and away from her with little effort. That strong show of power put her on everyone’s radar and suddenly Katie Faith is the witch every wolf wants.

For the most part, I enjoyed romance part of this story.  I really liked Katie Faith’s character.  She left the town, embarrassed but comes home having left all that in the past.  She is stronger and being back in her hometown gives her magic some kind of boost.  She’s also intensely attracted to Jace Dooley.  They have an “encounter” in their past and she is excited to now have the opportunity to explore it.  Jace and Katie Faith’s relationship comes very easy to them, but of course there are obstacles they must overcome.  Katie Faith’s power will be an asset if Jace, as the incoming Prime, and Katie Faith join in marriage.  The Pembry wolves want that power for themselves.  It’s clear throughout the story, though, that Katie Faith has chosen the wolf that she wants.

I struggled throughout this story with that fact that it never feels like a paranormal.  There is very little for the reader to experience in the way of the wolves shifting or the witches using their power.  There is a LOT of talking about it, but very little showing.  I wanted to feel Katie Faith’s power when she is constantly verbally abused by the Pembry wolves. Other than one “show” of power there is really nothing to make me feel that power. When the wolves go for a run, or a hunt, there is no description of the shift, no burst of light, no ripping of clothes.  

This story also ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. While Jace and Katie Faith do cement their relationship, the secret that hangs over Jace where his father is concerned is never revealed.  It simply hangs over everyone with the Pembry’s somehow exempt from the gag order, constantly hinting at the ugliness that happened in the past. Joining Katie Faith’s power to Jace only seems to insight the Pembry’s more and I expect future books to be a constant power struggle between families.

I’m not sure this series is for me.  I did enjoy the characters—Jace and his brothers are strong wolves with great personalities and I really liked how they come together to protect what they feel is “theirs”.  Katie Faith and her family along with the other witch families are equally enjoyable.  It’s clear the Pembry’s are the troublemakers when they do not get what they want. But this story seriously lacked in the paranormal feel that I expect from stories about shifters and witches.

Grade: C-

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